N. Pulcher (daffodil) vs Multis (or other shell dweller) in a 20 long? a 40B?

[simko]

Hi Everyone

So i have a 20Long thats empty, not sure if i want to do daffodils or some kind of shelldweller. Either that, Or im thinking of a 40 Breeder.

Any suggestions for a nice , entertaining fish to keep ? This will be a display tank in the living room, looking for something relatively simple to keep, and i think these all fall under that category. If i want a nice setup, am i likely going to do a species only tank here? or can any of these handle tankmates?

[Ron]

Shellies may handle tankmates depending on the specific species and how much floor space you allow them to have.

Daffodils ... a pair would not tolerate tankmates.

If you have room for a 29 gallon, tankmates might be easier overall, as you'd have cichlids closer to the bottom and could go with something else for the upper portions of the tank.

[simko]

Hi Ron

thanks for the reply!


I'm considering grabbing a 23 long (36x12x12) , im curious if that extra footprint would give space for tankmates... if i were to go multis, would something like a sumbu compressiceps work well?


If i went with this size, or even larger (maybe a 33 long? 48x12x12) could i do the N. Pulcher + Multis?

[Ron]

In a 48" tank I could see a pair of deaffodil and a colony of multis on the other side working out. A 3' tank - maybe. I think you'd want to make each half well defined - no significant rockwork on the multi side and a nice cave on the daffodil side, with some additional rock to break the sight line from one to the other.

A small compressiceps with the multis on a 36" tank should be alright, but I'm not sure who will win the battle of shellie fry vs compressiceps. Might be interesting to give it a shot.

[simko]

So just thought i would update everyone, i realize this is an old thread, but since there isn't too much traffic here, i dont feel bad resurrecting it.


I added 6 pulcher and about 10 multis to my tank, rockwork for the pulchers and snail shells for the brichardi at opposite ends, with a mess of hornwort and jungle vals in the middle.


I dont remember the timeline, but both fish ended up spawning and hatching fry, the pulchers had many, many more. The pulchers ended up pushing the multis and the other pulchers to the corner of the tank , i was able to catch the multis and give them away, netting the exiled pulchers was very very difficult and the pair quickly killed off the ones that werent in their mating pair.


I now have 2 proud pulcher parents, 3 different batches of fry at different ages (largest are maybe 5/8 - 3/4") and im pretty happy with the outcome  although i wish i just listened to conventional wisdom of keeping these in a species only tank from the beginning, that way i would have avoided deaths of several fish.

[Regalblue]

Live & learn.  This is just one way we grow as hobbyists